Man indicted in fatal head-on crash of East Texas woman

TYLER - The man involved in a head-on collision killing an East Texas woman has been indicted. The May accident killing 20-year-old Haile Beasley caused quite a stir after Tyler police officers did not request blood to be drawn at the scene.

CBS 19's reviewed the court records, showing James Fulton has been indicted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Haile's mother, Jessica Whittmore said the indictment brings her family one step closer to getting justice for her baby girl.

The crash happened on was a Saturday night in May. Tyler police arrived at the 1400 block of West Grande Boulevard at 9:40, just several minutes after the crash.

"She sat in that car for a while. Gone. Deceased. And it was basically treated as a traffic accident," Whittmore said.

She explained what the incident report said. Fulton crossed over several lanes of traffic and collided head-on with Haile's vehicle. Whittmore said Tyler police did not follow protocol that night.

"They did do a field sobriety test. I found out later that wasn't done until an hour after the accident," she said.

She showed CBS 19 body cam footage on her computer from the night of the crash. It shows Fulton walking away from the accident with no visible injuries.

Whittmore had not seen the indictment until CBS 19 showed her, and she said she found relief.

"Just seeing that it's with a deadly weapon is amazing because we just get in our cars every day and forget that it can be considered a deadly weapon if not used correctly," she said.

Looking through photos of her beautiful daughter, Whittmore says she can't give up the fight. As she looks at pictures of her baby girl, she can't help but think about what could have been.

"I will never get to see her walk down the aisle. I will never get to have grandbabies from her, " she said. "I was so blessed to be her mom for 20 years."